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Start with the forecast, not with the car park

Winter in the Lake District is generous with beauty and unforgiving with mistakes. The difference between a memorable day on the fells and a genuinely frightening one usually comes down to preparation, and preparation begins the night before you leave the house.

Check a dedicated mountain weather forecast rather than a valley forecast for Keswick or Ambleside. What matters is the summit figure, not the town figure. You want four things: the wind speed and direction at height, the freezing level, the cloud base, and the likely precipitation. A still, bright day at 200 metres can be a different planet at 900 metres, and the temperature drop with altitude is only part of it. Add wind chill and a calm-feeling valley day can turn into a full winter mountaineering day above the snowline.

Look at daylight too. In midwinter you may have only seven or eight hours of usable light, and it goes quickly on a north-facing slope. Build your plan around being off the high ground by dusk, not simply reaching the summit.

Dress for the worst ten minutes, not the average

Layering is the whole game. Aim for a base layer that moves sweat away from your skin, an insulating mid layer or two, and a windproof, waterproof shell that will survive a gusty ridge. A belay jacket or synthetic insulated jacket that lives in your rucksack and only comes out when you stop is worth its weight many times over.

• Hands: two pairs of gloves at minimum, plus a warm over-mitt. Wet gloves on a windy summit are miserable and can become a real problem.
• Head and face: a hat, a spare hat, a buff or balaclava, and goggles if there is any chance of spindrift.
• Feet: boots with a stiff sole and deep tread, worn in and waterproofed. Consider microspikes or crampons and an ice axe for hard, old snow on ridges and in gullies — and know how to use them.
• Eyes and skin: sunglasses or goggles, and sunscreen. Snow reflects a surprising amount of light, even under cloud.

Carry more water and food than you think you need, and put a flask of something hot in the bag. Cold suppresses appetite, so eat little and often rather than waiting for a big lunch stop that never feels appealing.

Plan a short day and set a turnaround time

Winter routes take longer. Snow, ice and soft ground all slow you down, and daylight is short. Pick an objective that leaves you a generous margin, and choose something with a straightforward escape route if the weather turns.

Write down a turnaround time before you set off, and stick to it. This is the single most useful piece of planning you can do. If you have not reached a particular point by that time, you turn around — no debate, no "just five more minutes". The summit will still be there in spring.

Tell someone at home your route, your intended finish time and what to do if you have not been in touch. Charge your phone and keep it in an inside pocket where the cold will not drain it, and carry a paper map and compass as your primary navigation. Batteries fail in the cold, and so do screens.

Read the ground as carefully as the sky

Winter conditions on Lake District ridges change hour by hour. The hazards that catch people out are not dramatic; they are quiet and easy to miss.

• Verglas: a thin, invisible glaze of ice on rock and stone steps, often on the shaded side of a ridge. If the path looks wet but feels slippery, it is.
• Hard old snow: pleasant and fast when it is soft, dangerous when it has frozen solid overnight. This is where an axe and crampons earn their place.
• Cornices: overhanging snow on the lee side of a ridge. Never walk close to the edge to peer over. Keep well back.
• Wind: sustained gusts above roughly 40 to 50 miles per hour make balance on an exposed ridge genuinely difficult, especially on narrow ground.

Spindrift is a useful warning sign. If snow is being lifted and blown across the ridge, the wind is strong enough to affect your movement.

Know when to turn back — and do it early

The hardest skill in winter hillwalking is not navigation or axe work. It is calling it. Recognise the signs and act before you are committed to ground you cannot easily retreat from.

• The cloud base drops below the tops and visibility closes in to a whiteout with no distinguishing features.
• Conditions underfoot are icier than expected on the approach, before the real difficulties begin.
• Wind is pushing you off your line or making you crouch to stay upright.
• You are behind schedule, or someone in the group is cold, tired or struggling.

Turning back on the flanks of a fell feels like failure, and it is not. It is the judgement that separates a long life in the hills from a short one. Choose your decision points in advance — a col, a tarn, the foot of an ascent — and treat them as genuine limits.

Carry the kit that gets you home

Every winter rucksack should hold a headtorch with spare batteries, an emergency shelter or group shelter, a spare insulated layer, spare gloves and hat, a first aid kit, a whistle, and food you can eat without stopping. A torch left in the car is no help at all.

If something goes wrong, get the group out of the wind, add insulation, feed and water everyone, and take stock. In an emergency in the UK, dial 999 or 112 and ask for the police, then mountain rescue. Give a clear grid reference, a description of the location and the nature of the problem.

Prepare well, go with people you trust, and the winter fells will give you days you will remember for years. Stay humble, watch the forecast, and turn back while turning back is still easy.